The Open Doorway

The lady next door opened her door. Trough a little crack, she looked at me. I needed to ask her a few questions, that’s why I had knocked at her door. I am moving, and wanted information about how much rent a tenant pay so as to get some idea about how much I would be asking.

Neighbors do knock at each other doors in time of need. Like once my downstairs neighbor knocked at 10 pm at night. She wanted to know whether we were smoking. That was in February, and I had newly moved in. My daughter was still with me. She was about to leave in a couple of days. We assured the neighbor that we had never done any smoking during our whole life. Her apartment had smoke in it and she was trying to find the cause of it.

My next door lady and I had met outside a few times. She would bring her dog outside for a run. I had asked her at that time. “How many times you need to bring your dog out?” I was feeling curious. She had replied, thrice a day, and once during night. At heart I had wondered at her stamina.

She is a widow just like me, and living on her own. She shifted at the same time (three months back) as myself to a new beginning.

Going back to the day I knocked at her door, she didn’t remove her chain. She was so paranoid as if she didn’t know me beforehand. Her action was deflating to say the least. Apparently she couldn’t give me a few minutes of her time. Seeing her reaction I quickly excused myself and left.